Diy Little Mermaid Cake (no piping skills required!)

I don't know about you, but when it comes to decorating cakes, I pretty much suck. It is not a skill set I possess and even though I've tried really hard to learn, it's just not happening. I can bake a cake, but when it comes to fancy frosting and piping....no. Just, no.

Lucky for me, I have some awesome relatives who DO possess said cake skills, so its not often the kids go without awesome birthday cakes (you can see what I'm talking about HERE, HERE, and HERE ), but what happens when mamma is on her own and the kid requests a Little Mermaid Cake? 

Well, I discovered a little secret (well, its probably not really a secret) .... frosted, but NOT decorated cakes from the bakery! In my case I used a huge cake from Costco (hello...$18.99!!) Obviously, I could've just ordered something decorated from the grocery store bakery, but Costco cakes are a really good deal, taste super yummy(ours was chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling) and are huge! There's only problem with Costco cakes...you are limited on what they will actually decorate your cake with and they don't offer any character cakes. Lame.

My solution?

How about a Costco cake combined with a cheap play set from Amazon? #winnerwinnerchickendinner !!

This is what you'll need to recreate your own Little Mermaid Cake:

• Frosted (but not decorated) Cake
•  Little Mermaid Mini Castle Playset (*aff. link)
• Crushed Graham Crackers
• Blue Sanding Sugar (*aff link)
• Assorted Candies in Coordinating Colors

Follow the steps below to easily build your cake!

If ordering a cake from Costco, just specify on the order form which flavor cake you want with white frosting and with piped edges, but no design.

My daughter loves these little sets and they are the perfect scale for a cake, not to mention its a built in gift for the birthday kid! 

I place the castle first so that I can squish it into the frosting. This keeps it stable if you will be transporting the cake. Follow up by sprinkling crushed graham crackers around to resemble a beach.

Sprinkle the blue sugar where you want the ocean to be. I found it helpful to press the sugar into the icing slightly to help it stay in place. 

Place your figurines around the cake. My daughter really wanted to recreate the scene where Ariel gets her legs, but I thought it was best if Ariel kept her clothes on for this one. 

We happened to have leftover candy from our goodie bags so we used it to embellish the cake even more. My daughter had a lot of fun telling me where to put all of them.

It's that simple!!!

If I didn't know I made it, I would've totally thought it came done from the bakery, wouldn't you!?

Letter E - built by my husband | Cake Stand - Vintage | Plate - IKEA | 

I almost didn't even write this tutorial because of how easy it was, but then I thought, why not!? I'm sure there are lots of times when we want to add our own DIY touches to a party, but things like frosting and piping a cake are out of our comfort zones. This solution is so easy that your kids could probably do it themselves!

I really hope you will give this idea a try and if you do, I want to see your cakes!